A blog about retro American pop culture from the 1970's through the 1980's.

May 23, 2012

Gen X Is Middle-Aged

Well, Generation X is now firmly middle-aged.

For those of you who weren't aware of it yet, a new, bigger-than-the-Boomers generation called the Millennials are now mostly working-age (although most are bitching [surely you've heard of the so-called "Occupy" movement?!] because they can't find high-paying jobs they presumed would be theirs for the taking when they took out massive student loans ... yeah, like kids who graduated in the 1970's had it any easier?! Welcome to the Real World, Millennials!).

Anyway, without a diatribe on the sense of entitlement that I think every generation has (mine included!), I thought one my inaugural posts for this blog should include some of the retrospective TV ads airing during the past few years. The latest one is from Mazda on a crossover vehicle they're calling the CX-5 (I don't even know what a crossover vehicle IS) uses a lot of the sound-effects from 1970's TV staple "The Six Million Dollar Man".

This comes on the heels of a few others during the past year or so. Have a look at this gem for Tums Dual Action antacid tablets HERE:

Yes, that's the 1973 hit song "Hello, It's Me" by Todd Rundgren. He had a few other hits in the seventies, but I would dare say this was one of his best-known songs.

But the advertising aimed at middle-aged Gen Xers doesn't stop there.

Consumer products giant Procter & Gamble's advertising agency gave us this one for the Swiffer WetJet disposable mop system. Catch the video HERE:

The song "Baby Come Back" was released by the band Player in 1978 if I'm not mistaken.

Then, Visa's ad agency gave us this one featuring The Moody Blues singing "Tuesday Afternoon" about using a Visa check card to get into an aquarium on a Tuesday afternoon (see HERE):

I won't comment on the Visa ad other than to say that the Moody Blues was also featured in the recently-released Johnny Depp movie "Dark Shadows" (that features the song "Nights in White Satin", but the sound is distinctively 70's either way).

So did this trip down memory lane validate my assertion that Gen X is getting old? By the way, for anyone interested, all these songs can be downloaded on iTunes, or bought from Amazon.com's digital music store, and even Google's Play music store has some music, though I can't verify if any or all of these songs are there.